How can I teach someone rhythm? Is it possible?

Answer 1

I'm taking a world dance teaching methods class and we actually talked about this in class. The teacher said that it's not impossible to teach rhythm. It's true that some people are born with it but it's also true that those who are not born with it can learn it. I TA for a folk dance beginning class and there are about three people in that class that don't have any rhythm. That's 10% of the class and I think it's a lot since the class has 30 people. Anyhow, I could see some improvement but since the class is pretty large the teacher doesn't take time to teach everyone.

How to teach rhythm? First you need to give that student confidence. That doesn't mean to tell them that they're doing fine but to tell them that they' re improving. Sometimes they don't realize that they're not moving well and some other times they are very self conscious about it and might even feel embarrassed. You have to realize that the people in the second category took your class because they know that they can't dance. SO, building their confidence is the first step.

Next, the clapping exercise that the guy before me talked about is a great start. You clas first, then have them clap with you after which see if they could clap by themselves. If they're not doing very well start clapping with them again and keep encouraging them.

After the clapping exercise start with walking. Walk slowly, then faster then change rhythms. Don't do any steps. Their body has to learn the difference and how to move. Make the walking fun, switch directions, tell them to start on the R foot then on the left, go backwards.

After you feel that they are more comfortable you can teach them easy basic steps. Make sure you don't tell them that they're doing great if they're not. Explain to the whole class how to do it (don't single students out) and tell the truth. Students know when they got it and they won't trust you if you say "you're a wonderful dancer" when they know that they aren't.

Somebody was saying something about teaching rhythm to people who have hearing problems. I've seen deaf completely deaf people dancing on rhythm. If they can do it then everyone can! You just have to get the dancer to feel the rhythm. Vibration helps too. Have them touch the speakers to feel the beat or if you can use a program like Windows Media Player to show them the bars that move on the beat that could work too. If they are very slow getting it you might want to take them by the hand and also dance with them so they can feel your body movement. Do some slow partner dances but remember that sometimes the slower dances are even harder than the faster ones. And switch partners often. No one likes to dance with someone who can't move. It's frustrating. Changing partners will help the person who can't dance too because they will get to feel different people.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Don't listen to the people telling you that you are either born with rhythm or have to suffer a bland inhibited lifetime avoiding the dance floor. One of my good friends in Salsa class is tone deaf. He is AWFUL at the beat, but he's one of the best leaders at the studio. The girls line up to dance with him, even though he's so off time all the time.

Anyway, the point is that he started dancing with a school music teacher. She taps the beat on his shoulder while they dance and now he's starting to get it.

In case you don't know, salsa music is one of the most complex and difficult musical styles to dance to. Just about every beginning salsa dancer has a hard time finding the beat. Salsa is poly-rhythmic, meaning every instrument follows a different rhythm. But there is a clear 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8. And you can hear it if you know what to listen for.

The difficulty with salsa is so common that there are several salsa timing CDs for sale on the internet. The CDs wouldn't work if people had to rely on their genes to teach them rhythm. And I know a lot of people that learned their timing with the CDs.

Answer 3

It is possible to teach rhythm. As long as the person have some resemblance of normal hearing i.e. they are not completely officially deaf you can teach them rhythm.
Depending on how "bad"of a case you have, you might start with finding a song with a very defined beat and ask the person to clap to the beat. You can progress to a more complicated song and ask to clap it. You can clap a rhythm yourself and ask to repeat it. If it is related to dancing, you can move one and ask the person to stomp or tap the rhythm with their feet in any way they can, since dance needs to connect the rhythm to the feet eventually. What I find in most cases, people can clap just fine, or can learn to clap very quickly. So "connecting" the ears to the hands is quite easy. But "connecting" ears to the feet is a little harder.

Answer 4

You can teach yourself drums by learning the drum parts to your favorite songs. Just listen to the drums and try to play what you hear. After you learn a few songs it will be easier to learn other songs because most songs have similar beats. When you first start it will be difficult, especially getting the coordination with your hands and feet, but if you master that, then you can learn quickly.

Answer 5

Rhythm I believe is something you are either born with or not. I do think you can teach dance, but unless that person "loosens" up, it will look mechanical. For instance one of my sons dances very well and the other sometimes it just looks funny to see him dance!

Answer 6

It is possible but it is better to start with something slow like waltzing then advance .Some people just don't have that rythm mechanism.Good Luck.

Answer 7

Dance classes dont help if they dont have rhythm to begin with. I would recommend instrumental music lessons, percussion for example.

Answer 8

Listen to blklaque.

Answer 9

Didn' think you can. If you haven't got it then you never will. Maybe if they feel the beat and loosen up you could improve them